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Archive

Coat of many colours

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One of the more interesting uses of coatings is to apply solid lubricants as a substitute for liquid lubricants. The solid lubricant that is used is normally a complex mixture that can include silver, molybdenum and various binding compounds. In the 1980’s and 1990’s US defence budgets encouraged the development of a range of coatings of all sorts and the solid lubricant found a use for example in a NASA project for a fully recirculating, non-air breathing engine. A Wankel unit...

Joint Face Design

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Last month we looked at some of the aspects concerning the design of the big end and this month we pick up with further aspects of this critical area, namely those concerned with the joint faces. The big end joint is an important area of rod design, as it affects the durability of the rod bolts. If there is a problem with this joint, it will surely lead to a catastrophic engine failure – it would be a real surprise to find a loose rod bolt with no significant damage found elsewhere....

Heat-Treatment of Crankshafts

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The article last month covered the subject of materials used for Formula One crankshafts. This feature looks at the subject of heat treatments currently used in Formula One. As we saw last month, the materials in current Formula One use are mainly nitriding steels. By nitriding steels, we mean those with a composition containing elements which are strong nitride-formers, chief among these being chromium, aluminium, molybdenum and vanadium. As you can see from looking at the tables in...

Electronics v Chemistry

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Do we need electronic engine management systems? Really need them? Because controlling fuelling, ignition, even valve timing, duration and lift achievable through electronic control units doesn’t necessarily mean that is the best or even the right solution. That is a deliberately controversial statement but it is worth considering what lies behind it and what the alternatives and options are. At its simplest, an engine needs oxygen and the right amount of fuel in order to breathe....

Cylinder Heads / Blocks

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The process of engineering design is very much a compromise and sometimes, even with modern computerised techniques, several iterations may be required before the final, optimised product evolves. The design of a modern cylinder head can be a perfect example of this. Although four valves per cylinder with a central spark plug is ubiquitous in gasoline engines, as the included angle of the intake and exhaust valves becomes smaller, the architecture of the valve train and space for the...

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